Page 144 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

The Crusades as Trendsetter

say rather that a better term would be ‘Peaceful Crusades’.
Subsequently, a silent process was gradually set in motion
among the Christian nations based on constructive activities
such as study and research. All the books available in those
times were acquired and translated into European languages.
Research was undertaken in many different fields of knowledge,
including, most importantly, that of nature.

This process of peaceful research and study, which continued
for a long period of time, ushered in the age of the Renaissance
in Christian Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Developments in the sciences and other fields of knowledge
continued uninterruptedly until a new world came into
existence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—a world
which was different in every respect from that of ancient
times. It was a high point in the development of western
civilization, and its most prominent aspect was that it totally
revolutionized the criterion of power for the first time in
human history. In ancient times, war was the criterion that
determined power. Now, in this new age, rightly called the
‘scientific age’, peace had become the source of power. During
the Crusades, the Muslim nations achieved victory by winning
wars. Now in present times, Christian nations have found a far
greater victory by employing a peaceful strategy.

In present times, many Muslims are prone to thinking
along the lines of violence. In many places, they are directly
or indirectly promoting the culture of guns and bombs. But
over a long period, despite the extraordinary sacrifices made
by Muslims, they have not been able to achieve any success,
whereas the ascendancy of western nations has remained
unaffected.
What is the reason for the total failure of the Muslims’
violent activities in the present times? There is just one cause
and that is their opting for ancient ways and practices in
modern times. In other words, opting for the culture of war in

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